Many fluids are caustic, acidic, or otherwise harmful to the users and the environment. Therefore, it is important to be careful in the transporting, storing and dispensing of such fluids. Many such fluids are shipped in bulk containers such as a drum, which has one or more bung holes in the top.
A number of prior patents have dealt with this problem. PCT published application No. WO 88/06693, U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,368, U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,237 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,878 all refer to dispensing of liquids in a safe manner from a drum or other bulk container. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,896,056, 1,938,174 and 1,949,491 relate to the dispensing and metering of the flow of liquids from a drum. Still other U.S. Patents have dealt with the problem and show various dispensers from drum or other bulk containers such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,042,266, 3,913,606, 4,088,245, 4,114,782, 4,162,745, 4,570,833 and 4,630,759.
The prior art references do not teach one how to make a combined dispensing and measuring device which will permit the safe and ready dispensing of fluid from the bulk container and also permit the measuring of the amount of fluid remaining in the container or measuring the quantity of the fluid dispensed from the container.
The dispensing and measuring device of the invention is used preferably in the dispensing and distribution of chemical products. The main purpose of the device is to eliminate handling chemical products and disposing of chemical drums or containers. The device serves five purposes: 1) to dispense the chemical product without the handling of the chemical; 2) to monitor the amount of chemical used and to show the level of chemical remaining in the drum by a level sensing device; 3) to monitor the chemical feed and record the information which can be used to plan reorder times and track chemical usage; 4) to remove the responsibility of the user to dispose of the used drum by permitting the drum to be sent back to the chemical supplier for refilling; and 5) to provide a system where the dispensing and measuring device will remain in the drum when shipped to and from the chemical user. This system keeps foreign matter from entering the drum at the site of the user. Both the dispensing and measuring devices are installed in the same adapter body which is installed in one of the two bung holes supplied in the drum. When shipped to and from the user, the adapter body will have a transport cap installed in the dispensing device and a liquid resisting dust cap on the level sensing device of the adapter body. Both devices will have a lanyard installed to prevent loss of either cap.